Pindad and Cogifer to make rail switches

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned army industrial company PT Perindustrian Angkatan Darat (Pindad) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with French Cogifer Industries to construct 200 rail switches worth Rp 20 billion (US$9.26 million).

Under the agreement which was signed in Bandung, west Java by Pindad's vice president T. Sjamsu and Cogifer's commercial director Oliver Rerole, the France-based company will provide 50 switches to be assembled by Pindad and transfer technologies on metal forging and fasting.

The railway whipping-rods will be optimized by the state-owned railway company Perusahaan Umum Kereta Api (Perumka) on the route linking Cirebon-Kroya-Banjar in Central Java.

The Bandung-based Pindad is one of the 10 state-owned companies managed by the Agency for the Management of Strategic Industries (BPIS), while Cogifer is a company that invented the system of rail switching.

The Belgian government has also agreed to extend soft loans of $9.5 million for 200 switches.

An executive from BPIS Yanto Sugiharto said that Pindad will begin assembling the devices later this year.

Perumka needs about 4,000 switches to replace the old ones, he said as quoted by the Antara news agency. (icn)